Out lesbian and nurse Chelsea Savage loses Henrico-area race in House Democratic Primary

This past weekend, the 73rd district held a caucus to determine which democratic candidate will oppose the Del. John M. O’Bannon III (R-Henrico). One such hopeful was Chelsea Savage, the out and proud nurse, scholar and cult survivor that GayRVA recently profiled. Though Savage did not win, she is still proud of the work she and her team put forth.

Savage has a huge thank you to everyone who supported her and volunteered on her campaign. She had special praise for her campaign manager, Brian Robinson.

“I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as him,” Savage said. “He put his heart and soul and everything into it.”

She also has praise for Chadderdon Lestingi Creative Strategies, which she consulted throughout her campaign.

Savage explained that her team worked hard to create a mailing list from scratch.

“Most people, when they do a campaign, can just look at the last campaign, but there’s nothing to go on for the 73rd [district] because O’Bannon had only been challenged one time,” Savage explained.

Savage may have lost to Debra Rodman, but she will support her as the winning candidate.

“I respect her and she’s a good person,” Savage said. “I will do what I can to help her get elected.”

Rodman is now only the second democratic candidate to challenge O’Bannon in the past 17 years. Henrico County has been a Republican-leaning district, however, it did vote primarily for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election this past fall.

Savage called her campaign something scary, but she is proud to have persisted through the fear.

“Whenever you do something that you’re terrified of, and you do it well and courageously, you’re changed. That’s what I did,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.”

As she readjusts to a campaign-free life, Savage is looking forward to attending live concerts and kayaking with friends, but a future bid for election is something she said is “not off the table.”

“I am so grateful I was able to be a voice for women,” Savage said. “For women who have been in poverty but have overcome it. For single mothers who have felt marginalized but have prevailed and raised amazing children. For the LGBT population, that you can be out and you can be proud. I’m not just a candidate who happens to be gay. I’m a gay candidate.”

There are other LGBTQ candidates in other primaries around the state, however Virginia’s 73rd holds their caucus early. The rest of us will vote in the democratic primary on June 13th.

Related Stories

The big news around the Commonwealth this morning is the big win for Democrats in yesterday’s election. However, while Ralph Northam’s surprisingly strong victory over Ed Gillespie in the gubernatorial race is certainly the headline, Virginia’s LGBTQ community have their own special reasons to be overjoyed, the biggest being Danica Roem’s victory over Bob Marshall [...]